Ancestors
by predatoryExcitement
Summary: My take on the story of the Signless and his crew. Story mainly told from the point of view of the Disciple, and it spans from when the Dolorosa found him on.
1. Chapter 1

It's so lonely; I don't think I'll get over it. His blood, all of it draining down. I don't know why I was spared. My legs hurt so much, but I can't stop now. People need to know his legacy.

Why is everything so cruel?

~-..-~

She made her way through the caves of the Mother Grub. She had to flee. The others don't get it. Aren't tenders of the brooding caverns supposed to help all grubs? Why was this one any different? Why was _he_ any different? It sounded like the others were giving chase. If she could just make it to her quarters and out of there then maybe-

There were people blocking her room. She ran, nicking her arm on one of the stalactites and spilling jade blood onto the floor. Not being able to stop, she ran. She ran and ran right out of the caverns and into the desert sun. The poor wriggler squealed out in pain as the rays hit its carapace. Ripping a cloth off of her work dress, she covered the poor squealing thing. Her old hive wasn't too far off, so that's where she headed. Maybe she could grab something there before word is sent out of her escape.

~-..-~

"Hey, Dolorosa?" a weak voice called out.

"Yes, Kankri?" The Dolorosa responded.

"Could you tell me of how you escaped the brooding caverns again?"

"I told that to you last dawn, silly. Do you want anything for midnight sustenance?"

"No, I was going to get something from Katzen. He likes giving me food, and his lusus is super fluffy!" he exclaimed, telling of the outside wonders.

"Have you been going into other trolls' hives like I told you not to?" she inquired of him.

"No, his lusus just goes outside a lot. She likes to keep track of him, a lot."

"Well, just be careful, and don't wander too far. And don't go outside without me young man." The older troll turned back to the counter putting away some things into her bag.

"Talida says someone else was living in this hive before I moved in. They were wondering what my lusus was," he paused for a second thinking. "Why don't I have a lusus? It seems like ever- allbody I know has some sort of cust- cust- lusus."

"You had it the first time with everybody, and it's custodian, young spurt. You'll get it right next time."

"Well why don't I have one?" Kankri persisted.

"It's complicated. I might tell you when you're older," the Dolorosa explained, not wanting to go through this quite yet.

His face contorts into a frustrated and angry expression, "You've always said that and I want to know now. You said 'when I'm older' a long time ago and now I'm older. I want to know why I'm different!" he shouted, raising his voice beyond a reasonable level.

"Quiet down, you'll disturb the neighbors," she husheed him.

"No, I don't care what they think. Why do we have to keep moving so often? Why do you take care of me instead of a lusus? I want to know why I'm so different!" he exclaimed; bright red tears started to roll down his grey cheeks before he started to bawl. The Dolorosa ran up to him, taking him in her arms and shushing him until he calmed down.

"You really want to know?"

He sniffled a bit, rubbing his nose and then his eyes. "Yeah…"

"Well you're going to need to sit down, and you need to promise that you won't tell anyone no matter what. This is a secret that you need to hold onto for dear life."

"Okay," he agreed half-heartedly.

"Kankri, look at me. Do you want to be culled?"

"Culled?"

"Killed by the drones. Do you want to die?"

"No! That's bad," he stated, looking up at her with his full attention.

"Then you mustn't tell anyone no matter what, do you understand? If you tell anybody what I'm about to tell you, you and I will both get killed."

Kankri stared her in the eye for a minute, letting the weight of what she said sink in. "I promise I won't tell any troll ever."

"Do you still want to know?"

"…Yes."

"Okay, then let's start from the beginning. You have red blood. You've seen it when you bleed. You are the only one with that blood color. No one else on all of Alternia has that blood color-"

"Really?!" he interrupted.

"Yes, really, but that doesn't mean it's a good thing. It means that you're different and you don't belong in the empire. They think you're inferior. Now you shouldn't think that because it isn't true, you are just as capable as anyone else. The highbloods don't think that though."

"Who are the highbloods?" Kankri inquired, tilting his head to the side.

"They are the trolls whose blood is blue, purple, or even fuchsia. They live longer, there are less of them, and they are stronger physically. They are the ones that 'rule' the troll empire. They get just about anything they want because in society's eyes they are more competent."

"Competent?"

"Better, can do more. The higher your blood the more you're worth, or the better you are. This is what a lot of people think."

"I've never seen anyone with that color of blood. I've only seen people with dark red or brown blood."

"There are so many more than that, and some are rather pretty. In fact, I do not have red or brown blood."

"What color is it? Let me see!" he shouted, getting excited.

"It's jade green. Not a lot of people have it," the Dolorosa explained.

"Can you show me?" he asked, pointing to her arm.

"Sure, but only a little. It hurts," she stood, grabbing one of her sewing needles and bringing it back to where Kankri was. She crouched down and pricks the end of her finger; a few drops of jade green blood dripped off the flesh wound and onto the floor. Kankri looked up in astonishment.

"Whoa…"

"I know."

"Is that why I don't have a pretty picture either?"

"Pretty picture..? Oh, you mean symbol. Yes, that is why you do not have one. There was no one before you that had such blood, so there was no symbol to pass down to you," the woman explained.

"What's your symbol?" he inquired.

She drew a symbol with three bumps at the top, one at the side, and two hooks at the bottom (the symbol for Virgo).

"Wow."

~-..-~

Both moons were out in the warm night. Kankri was playing with some of the neighbors while the Dolorosa was trimming some bushes in the side lawn ring trying not to be seen. She'd had most of the supplies the two shared packed, as she had for a while. Who knew when they'd have to take up roots and leave.

The two had been at that hive for longer than any other, almost a Perigree to be exact. All the more reason to stay packed, according to her. It was nice to stay in one place for a while, though. Running was tiring, and it's quite amiable to be able to sleep without horrendous nightmares.

It was only four sweeps since the Dolorosa had left the brooding caverns for the sake of this one grub. She missed taking care of the adorable wigglers, but she couldn't stand leaving one to die just because he wasn't normal, just because he was bright red. The empire hardwires injustice from a young age. That was, and still is, unjustifiable.

 _Ccccrrrraaack!_ A scream is heard soon after a thud and some rustling. As the Dolorosa looked up, she saw a broken tree limb on the ground with a young troll wailing on top of it. After a moment it registered to her that the injured young troll was none other than Kankri. Within a split second the woman had sprinted across the transportation path and scooped up the poor wailing young one in her arms. There are dribbles of his blood on the tree and scattered all over the ground for everyone to see. The disgrace to society hath been revealed!

 _This is no time for sarcasm_ , she thought to herself. The only thing she cared about was in danger. No, the only _person_ she cared about was in grave danger if they didn't get out of there quick. She had to act now.

Before the Dolorosa could even think, she had run into the hive with Kankri in her arms, grabbed her packed bag full of supplies, and left out the back. With no plan of where the two were going or when they would stop, they ventured out into the wilderness.


	2. Chapter 2

"Shh, Pounce, be quiet. I hear somefang. Stay here," I told my custodian before I crouched and swiftly crawled into the brush. I headed towards the intruders. No one ever really came into my territory, and when they did they'd have to deal we either me or Pounce. He was my ferocious yet snuggly meowbeast lusus that has two pretty mouths with many, many teeth. I couldn't imagine anything happening to him, especially if a stray cholerbear got to him! I wouldn't have been able to live with myself.

I continued to prowl through the woods and soon enough I saw the intruders. It was an adult troll and a younger one who looked about my age, probably four and a half sweeps. Old enough to start growing bigger horns. His are still really small. Mine look like Pounce's ears! I kept them in my sight for a bit, then decided to go in for the "kill". I wouldn't actually kill them, I'm only just five sweeps myself. Old enough to know how to write functionally.

I leapt out of my hiding spot and pounced on the young one, tackling him to the ground. He lets out a frightened yell as his hands scraped against the brush. The older one shouted and shoved me off, picking up the previously pounced on one and started to run off. Before she got anywhere though, I grabbed onto her dress and yanked her back. She seemed surprised by my strength and was taken aback, yanking her dress away.

"Wait miss. I'm pawsitively sorry for pouncing on him, but I couldn't help but wonder why you're in my neck of the woods," I told her. She stared at me with wide eyes for a bit before I noticed the younger troll she has in her arms was bleeding- bright red in fact. My eyes widened too because his arm was all mangled. "Oh my god, he's hurt!" I exclaimed, reaching out towards him. She pulled him away from me.

"Don't touch him," she shouted protectively.

"D-Dolorosa, it's okay," he said shakily, trying to sooth her.

"Look, I don't mean any harm. I can help! My hive is only a little ways away. Pounce and I have a lot of medical supplies, more than enough. He obviously needs to rest, I've been injured like that and Pounce wouldn't let me out of my 'coon for a week, and not out of the hive for a month! Please, just let me help," I pleaded, using my sad young meowbeast ganderbulbs to persuade her.

"Please please please‽" he questions. There was silence for a long second.

"Where's your hive? Does anyone else live nearby?" Dolorosa interrogated.

"I live in the middle of the woods, no one else is around. Just me and pounce!"

"…Okay, we can stay for a little while," she sighed. The younger one jumped for joy and then groaned in pain.

"My name's Meulin, what's yours?" I asked.

"I'm Kankri, and that's the Dolorosa. She's really nice. She takes care of me."

"Where's your lusus?" I questioned as we all started to walk in the direction of my hive.

"Uh… Where's yours?" he asked, avoiding my own inquiry.

"Somewhere around here," I stated then lifted my hands to my mouth and yelled POUNCE at the top of my air sacks. Kankri and the Dolorosa covered their hear ducts, the Dolorosa muttered something. Within a few moments, my mighty white fluffy lusus leapt through the bushes and tackled me to the ground and licked my face with both mouths.

"WHOA!" Kankri shouted, startled by the sudden appearance.

"I see where she got it from," the Dolorosa stated to him. He giggled.

I tried to wiggle out from underneath the huge purrbeast I called a custodian. Kankri was laughing his head off at the ridiculousness. After an excessive amount of struggle I finally got out and explained to Pounce what's going on then asked if Kankri could ride him the rest of the way back. He gave a curt nod and bowed to let Kankri get on him. It took quite the fuss but eventually we got him sitting up on the creature; we headed towards my hive. Eventually we arrived at the cave entrance, and I moved the boulder that stood in the way. He seemed impressed at my strength. I strutted into the cave and told them to wait out there for a moment. They almost looked worried as I leapt into the cavern and through the tunnel to get a torch so they could see. It took me a minute to locate it, but as soon as I found it I headed back out and into the night. It was during the bright season so it was really easy to see. Too warm in my opinion.

When I came back out of the cave, a look of relief flooded the Dolorosa's face. I lit the torch and showed them inside of the cave. It took a bit to actually get inside, but when we did I lit some of the gas lanterns and pointed everything out to the Dolorosa. Her eyes widened when she saw all of the food. I took Kankri over to where all the medical supplies were kept and made him lay his arm out on the table. Grabbing out a few splints, I reset his forearm and placed the splints around it to keep it in place. I used old bandages of mine that I'd washed to fix it. To make it so if someone stopped by they wouldn't get suspicious, I bit the tip of my left index finger and soaked the bandages with my blood a bit.

' _Now people will think he has olive green blood just like me!'_ I thought.

"Hey, why are you doing that?" he questioned incredulously.

"So people won't be wondering what your blood is."

"But I don't have that color blood."

"Well a lot of people don't like bright red blood. Pounce was telling me this the other night. I don't know why they wouldn't though. I think it is soooooooo purrety!" I exclaimed, smiling a big cleft lip grin at him. Pounce thought it was cute and that's why he picked me.

"I-It's not that pretty," he blushed red. I just giggled at him.

"It's purrfect," I concluded, starting to put away my medical supplies. He just sat there with a little smile on his face as I walked out of the block. A pleasant smell assaulted my nose as I stepped out into the nutrition block. As I looked around, I saw the Dolorosa placing some of my meat from the hunt near the fire. "Hey, what are you doing‽" I exclaimed in distress.

"I am cooking some of this meat you have stored up," she calmly stated.

"What's cooking?"

"Heating it up so you don't get sick when you eat it."

"I've nefur gotten sick."

"You eat it raw‽"

"Of course I do, there's no other way to do it that I know."

"Well just try it. Where are your spices?"

"What are those?"

"They make things taste better."

"Nofang tastes better than raw meat."

She didn't respond.

' _I win.'_

I walked into the other room to in time to see Kankri digging through my art supplies. I let out a loud hiss. "Hey! That's mine!" I shouted. He looked up at me with wide eyed with a worried face. He put up his one good hand and apologized profusely. I quickly rushed over and started to put everything back where it was beforehand. I had it all organized by order of color and my paintbrushes by size and it took me almost five minutes to put it all back. Kankri kept saying he was sorry. "Will you shut up?" I asked him, trying to stay calm. "I get you're sorry but you're super annoying when you do that."

He fell silent, then looked down out of shame and started crying quietly. "Nooooooooooo, don't cry, Kankri, I didn't mean it, okay?" I ran up and hugged him. He hugged me back with his one good arm and buried his face into my shoulder getting it all wet. "Kankri, I'm sorry…"

He sniffled a bit before responding, "Do you still think I'm pretty…?"

I giggled a bit saying, "yes I still think you're pretty, Kankritter."

"K-Kankritter?" he sputtered. Even though I couldn't see his face (we were hugging, remember?) I still knew his face is flushed.

"Yeah, I added a cat pun to your name!" I exclaimed. Oh boy did I love cat puns.

"Okay…" he trailed off and I kept giggling.


End file.
